A Breath of Foul Air

This is the Calumet Montana Refinery in Great Falls, MT (formerly Montana Refining Company, Inc.). For nearly 26 years, it's filled my lungs with it's sulfuric-like essence. On some days when the windows of the house are cracked, you'll catch a draft of caustic air to remind you how sickeningly dependent on oil we are. 9,800 barrels per day surge through the twisted maze of steel piping, filling pockets of gluttonous oil executives, and polluting the Missouri River it's built on. The river that sustains our city with hydroelectric power and drinking water.

The spires exhaust flames 20 feet into the air when she's overworked, sending a sharp beam of light straight up into the night sky; a beacon of old world ambitions. Small sections of the plant have exploded more than once in my lifetime. The rest of the world has moved on, yet here we are, waiting for the big one. Waiting for the day our city succumbs to a decrepit pipeline and a cloud of toxic wind. It looks so beautiful when it's lit up at night, it almost makes you forget just how fucking ugly it really is.

_{Photos by Cody Gudmundsen.}